A Baker's 3 room BTO @ Skyline II

[fingerscross 3]

On 03/11/2017 at 8:06 PM, matchalatte said:

yep i spray painted the plastic grating used to cover up the pipes. they've been an eyesore to me for a long time. i've seen folks changing them to acrylic panels but i didnt want to spend a few hundred bucks on it so i decided to do this. i think it looks very "industrial" and actually match the black ceiling so much better. 

The black spray painted grating is a nice touch. V nicely done n love how it looks with ur black ceiling.

[pandacel 0]

On 04/11/2017 at 12:41 PM, matchalatte said:

hey girl! by lights behind you mean those T5 kinda tube light? i wont be having it, since i already have lights behind my mirror. so not an issue i guess. i didnt do any prep work, its so high above and in black nobody's gonna scrutinize lol. 

so what will you be doing to your taobao light if you hubby's against spraying? buy another one in white? i think if the light is mounted on the ceiling you wont be able to see even if there are indeed bubbles. of course if its table/floor lamp then its another story altogether. 

oh oh ok, i think uncles doing the aircon should be ok since they should be more experienced. so far the trunking looks ok on the outside? 

do you have a blog btw? would love to read about your reno journey! 

Yea those lights behind the mesh! Initially I thought we will be using T5 light tubes too but my contractor said it's better to use light strip. I read somewhere that we should sand the item before spraying it. Wah if you managed to sand the plastic mesh then i must kowtow to you! My hubby prefers to get our contractor's workers to spray instead. Not sure if there will be extra charges and if they will do a good job..

Aircon wise, we only saw the trunking frame (pipes were not in yet). One of the holes they drilled was too big but the uncle assured me that they fixed it last Sunday. The routing looks ok though.  Most of the ugly piping is in the common bedroom that nobody uses anyway.

I'm too lazy to maintain a blog haha! Perhaps when we are nearing the end of the reno then we will post a review on our contractor.  when are you moving in btw? Your mood board has been a great inspiration to me! Initially I was going for Scandinavian theme until I saw one of the toilet pictures . Then everything changes.. thanks for starting this blog and sharing your ideas!

[matchalatte 16]

i've been so crazy busy these few days! no time to even update the blog at all. heres a sneak peek :

basically plumbing is done, floor protection and other debris cleared, gas connection also up so i've been scrubbing, cleaning and making frequent trips to IKEA and arranging for my appliances. carpenter is coming over to put the drawers back today so hopefully i will have better pics soon!

Edited November 9, 2017 by matchalatte

[flowersinherhair 2]

@matchalatte I am super in love with your kitchen countertop, is it iquartz?  I chose a marble-ish solid surface for my countertop, a bit apprehensive on how it's gonna turn out.. 

[matchalatte 16]

10 minutes ago, flowersinherhair said:

@matchalatte I am super in love with your kitchen countertop, is it iquartz?  I chose a marble-ish solid surface for my countertop, a bit apprehensive on how it's gonna turn out.. 

hello girl! thanks! you wont believe but its just laminate. i used lamitak's marmo classico, and its plywood underneath. is marble looking solid surface expensive? i didnt want solid surface because i hear you still cannot put hot stuff directly on it since its resin afterall, and white would discolor after sometime. if you're apprehensive about your choice, lets just say its "fingers crossed" for me since im not sure how long the laminate would last in areas with heavy flow of water. we'll see lol

[matchalatte 16]

On 11/6/2017 at 9:04 AM, pandacel said:

Yea those lights behind the mesh! Initially I thought we will be using T5 light tubes too but my contractor said it's better to use light strip. I read somewhere that we should sand the item before spraying it. Wah if you managed to sand the plastic mesh then i must kowtow to you! My hubby prefers to get our contractor's workers to spray instead. Not sure if there will be extra charges and if they will do a good job..

Aircon wise, we only saw the trunking frame (pipes were not in yet). One of the holes they drilled was too big but the uncle assured me that they fixed it last Sunday. The routing looks ok though.  Most of the ugly piping is in the common bedroom that nobody uses anyway.

I'm too lazy to maintain a blog haha! Perhaps when we are nearing the end of the reno then we will post a review on our contractor.  when are you moving in btw? Your mood board has been a great inspiration to me! Initially I was going for Scandinavian theme until I saw one of the toilet pictures . Then everything changes.. thanks for starting this blog and sharing your ideas!

sweetie, i didnt sand! im not as particular, in fact i didnt even spray the other side since it wont be visible lol. im just very slipshod when it comes to things like these. shortcut is my middle name lol

so how many times would gain city have to come back? they didnt run the trunking the first time? hopefully your aircon will be great both in installation and operation. post a review as well on how you think gaincity did, im curious to know haha. 

yeah hopefully you will do a review on your contractor and post some pics of the final result. would love to see your beautiful home, one that i "helped" inspire lol. i hope to move in on the 20th, coz thats when gaincity delivers all my appliances. then again i have no idea when my internet will be up, hopefully soon. sorry i havent had the time to reply earlier. it was just crazy the past few days. hubby works so im left to fend for myself lol. virtually just handling everything alone :-/

[flowersinherhair 2]

1 hour ago, matchalatte said:

hello girl! thanks! you wont believe but its just laminate. i used lamitak's marmo classico, and its plywood underneath. is marble looking solid surface expensive? i didnt want solid surface because i hear you still cannot put hot stuff directly on it since its resin afterall, and white would discolor after sometime. if you're apprehensive about your choice, lets just say its "fingers crossed" for me since im not sure how long the laminate would last in areas with heavy flow of water. we'll see lol

@matchalatte I see! The laminate looks really good, goes so well with the sink and the gold tap. I was quoted $330 per metre for the solid surface. I'm using it for the countertop as well as the backsplash. I don't cook often so I suppose it's okay,  I was told as long as you wipe off stains/water immediately, use a coaster for hot stuff etc, the solid surface should be able to last long. 

[Diluted 0]

11 hours ago, flowersinherhair said:

@matchalatte I am super in love with your kitchen countertop, is it iquartz?  I chose a marble-ish solid surface for my countertop, a bit apprehensive on how it's gonna turn out.. 

iQuartz should be quartz, different from solid surface.

https://www.thespruce.com/solid-surface-vs-quartz-countertops-1821253

It is definitely more resistant to heat and water damage. So dont have to worry in that aspect.

But in terms of staining, as with all white surfaces, you need to be more careful because quartz is porous. 

[Diluted 0]

11 hours ago, flowersinherhair said:

@matchalatte I am super in love with your kitchen countertop, is it iquartz?  I chose a marble-ish solid surface for my countertop, a bit apprehensive on how it's gonna turn out.. 

iQuartz should be quartz, different from solid surface.

https://www.thespruce.com/solid-surface-vs-quartz-countertops-1821253

It is definitely more resistant to heat and water damage. So dont have to worry in that aspect.

But in terms of staining, as with all white surfaces, you need to be more careful because quartz is porous. 

[matchalatte 16]

2 hours ago, Diluted said:

iQuartz should be quartz, different from solid surface.

https://www.thespruce.com/solid-surface-vs-quartz-countertops-1821253

It is definitely more resistant to heat and water damage. So dont have to worry in that aspect.

But in terms of staining, as with all white surfaces, you need to be more careful because quartz is porous. 

i dont think quartz is porous. its a manmade stone, unlike real marble which is natural hence porous. 

https://countertopguides.com/guides/pros-and-cons-of-quartz-countertops.html

[spooky 6]

Hi, I haven't dropped by in awhile, but glad to see that your reno is coming along very nicely! Love how the wardrobe looks especially! So sleek and classy

[Diluted 0]

On 10/11/2017 at 11:27 AM, matchalatte said:

i dont think quartz is porous. its a manmade stone, unlike real marble which is natural hence porous. 

https://countertopguides.com/guides/pros-and-cons-of-quartz-countertops.html

Perhaps quartz isnt porous. But still need to be careful with white counter tops i think. 

[binchotan 0]

On 11/2/2017 at 5:50 PM, matchalatte said:

 

@binchotan mind sharing what went wrong with your mom's installation? i've always heard of them subbing out the work to some unskilled indian workers and sometimes during installation they will bend the pipes wrongly resulting in leaks. i didnt want to take the risk. 

they use thin insulator and nv cover up properly thus resulting flooding in my mother's room and also leaking in my room and along the living room  too, sigh.....angry and blacklist them too

[matchalatte 16]

so plumbing happened more than a week ago and i only have time to blog. gosh.

the completed bathroom look. everything you see here is from taobao, except for that grey soap dispenser, which is from IKEA lol. i love everything i bought, and so far everything is working, including the mirror with lights. i also love the black shower rod and even bought black shower curtain rings to go with it. whats missing here is a wooden mat that looks like a deck flooring for the shower area. it will arrive in my next shipment. 

also got the plumber to fix a ledge above the toilet bowl. tentatively going to put some things up like a painting, aromatherapy diffuser or a plant. obviously its not going to be a food-related one like you see above, but this is the only picture frame i have right now lol

another view

closeup of the black stone sink and faucet. the stopper in the middle was also bought separately. the sink was ok but i feel that it wasnt sloped well resulting in pooling at some areas. on hindsight i should have bought a smaller one. this 60cm looks kinda oversized in my small bathroom as its even bigger than my kitchen sink. so far so good for the faucet except water marks are really obvious because its black. 

apart from having the bidet spray for the 2 bathrooms, i also have one in the service yard! bought a two outlet faucet from taobao as well, one connects to the spray the other connects to the washing machine. 

kitchen details

appliances will arrive on the 20th, internet activation on the 21st so tentative move in date will be on 21st!

Edited November 15, 2017 by matchalatte

[pandacel 0]

On 09/11/2017 at 9:39 PM, matchalatte said:

sweetie, i didnt sand! im not as particular, in fact i didnt even spray the other side since it wont be visible lol. im just very slipshod when it comes to things like these. shortcut is my middle name lol

so how many times would gain city have to come back? they didnt run the trunking the first time? hopefully your aircon will be great both in installation and operation. post a review as well on how you think gaincity did, im curious to know haha. 

yeah hopefully you will do a review on your contractor and post some pics of the final result. would love to see your beautiful home, one that i "helped" inspire lol. i hope to move in on the 20th, coz thats when gaincity delivers all my appliances. then again i have no idea when my internet will be up, hopefully soon. sorry i havent had the time to reply earlier. it was just crazy the past few days. hubby works so im left to fend for myself lol. virtually just handling everything alone :-/

Wah wah wah very good progress! I think your toilet turned out really well even though you didn't overlay the tiles (overlaying took up a big chunk of our reno budget ). 

Went to check last week and found out that one of my aircon units was slightly tilted. So the gain city peeps have to come back this Saturday to rectify sighhhh.. well im glad that our gain city salesman is a responsible guy. He arranged and booked the rectification date right after receiving hubby's call.. so thumbs up! Hopefully no more issues after that.  Btw gain city installers made 3 trips coz I overlay my toilets.  Once to drill the holes before overlaying, then lay trunking and install the blower units, and finally to make good the walls.

Have you tested your taobao rain shower? Is the water pressure good? I bought one from tb too but in black and gold . Still not installed yet. Can't wait to see your living and bed rooms!! You must be really bz moving stuff. This is the last lap liao. Jiayou jiayous!!